Garment-stretcher.



No. 69!,573. Patented Jan. 2|, I902. W. D. ASHWORTH.

GARMENT STBEICHEB.

(Application filed Sept. 5, 1901..)

(No Modal.)

v TNE nonms PEYEas c0. PHOTO-UTHO., WASDHNCTDN, a. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM D. ASHWORTH, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE PHILADELPHIA TEXTILE MACHINERY COMPANY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

GARMENT-STRETCHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 691,573, dated January 21, 1902. Application filed $eptember 5, 1901. Serial No. 74,402. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I,WILLIAM D. ASHWORTH, a citizen of the United States, residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented cer- 5 tain Improvements in Stretching-Frames for Stockings, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to certain improvements in frames for stretching garments, and

[ more particularly to a frame for use in con nection with the mercerization of finished stock lugs.

The object of my invention is to provide a. simple device to which a stocking or other I garment may be quickly applied and which will retain the garment in acondition of tension Without liability of injuring the same by tearing or otherwise. hereinafter set forth, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in Which- Figure 1 is a side View of my improved stretching-frame, the one illustrated bein g designed for .use in mercerizing stockings under tension. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of part of Fig. 1, taken on the line-2 2. Fig. 3

is a side view of the upper portion of a stocking-frame, illustrating a modification of my invention. Fig. 4 is an end View of Fig. 3, and Fig. 5 shows a special form of stocking 0 designed for usein connection with and shown in position on my improved frame.

In the drawings, A is a frame, preferably of non-corrosive metal, bent into the general form of a stocking, it being provided with braces orstift'ening-pieces (4, extending between its side members.

The material of which the frame A is made is preferably circular in section,and upon that part of the frame above the upper brace a 0 slides the cross-piece B, in the present case having projecting portions b for the accommodation of clamp-screws b, by means of which the cross-piece B may be retained in any desired position upon the sides of the 5 frame A. There are slots 17 made in the sides of the piece 13,; which, moreover, has two upward extensions 17 (shown in Fig. 2 and in dotted lines in Fig. 1,) these latter serving as bearings for a pin 0. This pin serves as a pivot for a pair of jaws D D, which have their This object I attain as lower edges bent at right angles and so constructed as to extend into the slots 1) in the cross-piece B. A spring a is wound on the pin 0 and the space between the two extensions b and its ends bear against the handles d of the jaws, keeping them normally in a closed position with their bent-in ends within the slots 21 A stop a is fixed to the upper end of one of the side members of the frame A, serving to prevent the possibility of the cross-bar B being removed from said frame or from dropping off when the frame is reversed in position when drawing on a stocking. In order to facilitate the placing of a stocking on the frame in the necessary position to be engaged by the jaws B, I may, if desired, provide a special piece B for carrying the jaws, this piece also sliding on the side members of the frame A. The cross-piece B','as before, has the slots b and the clamp-screws b, in addition to which it is provided with a downwardly-extending tapered portion 6 designed to serve as a guide and making it easier to pull a stocking in position on the frame. In this form of construction the crosspiece B has lateral projections b in which are bearings for pivotal pins 0, there being one of these latter for each jaw, and I preferably provide an additional pin 12 for the spring 0'.

In use a stocking is drawn on over the frame A and over the piece B as far as the lower side of the clamping-screws b, the jaws being held in an open condition by pressure applied to the handles d thereof. When the stocking has been properly adjusted, this pressure is relaxed, and the jaws then force the upper edge of the stocking into the slots b it being engaged by the turned-in part of each of the jaws D. I preferably make the edge serrated, so that the substance of the stockingisstronglygripped. The cross-piece B, which has hitherto been in a position'near the upper brace a, is now moved outwardly on the side members of the frame, and when 5 the proper amount of tension has been given to the stocking the screws b are turned so as to clamp the piece B to said side members of the frame.

Should the form of construction shown in Figs. 3 and t be used, I preferably slide the part B, with its attached jaws, toward the upper end of the frame to be out of the way while drawing on or adjusting the stocking to the part B. After this has been accomplished the jaws are opened and the piece B moved down on the frame until the jaws engage the stocking and force it into the slot 19 as before. When this has been done, both parts 13 and D are moved outwardly on the frame, being finally clamped in the desired position by means of the screws 12.

It is to be noted that this device is designed particularly to be used in connection with the mercerization of stockings in their completed form, and it is to overcome the powerful shrinkage which takes place during this process that I provide the brace a," and the pewerful gripping-jaws D. Should it be feared that these jaws would injure the stocking or i prevent the part engaged by the serrated edge from being fully mercerized, a stocking may be made as shown in Fig. 5, in which E is a stocking of ordinary construction, to the top of which is knitted or sewed a length 6 during theprocess of manufacture, there being preferably an openwvork section 6 between the stocking proper and such end part c. When the stocking is stretched on this frame, as shown in Fig. 5, the jaws D are brought into engagement with the said upper portion of the stocking, and at the completion of the process of mercerization this part c is ripped or cut off, leaving uninjured the finished welt at the top of the stocking.

I claim as my invention 1. In a device for stretching garments, the combination of a frame, a movable piece extending between the members of said frame and sliding thereon, said piece carrying means for positively clamping the garment to be stretched to said piece, and means for clamping said piece to the members of the frame and thereby retaining it in any desired position, substantially as described.

2. In a device for stretching garments, the combination of a frame, a movable piece extending between the members of said frame and constructed to slide thereon, said piece carrying means for positively clamping a garment to both sides of said piece, with means whereby said piece may be clamped to the members of the frame upon which it slides and means for limiting the motion of said piece upon the frame, substantially as described.

3. In a device for stretching garments, the combination of a frame, a movable piece constructed to slide thereon, jaws on said piece constructed to grasp the garment stretched on the frame, and means for clamping the said piece to the frame in any desired position, substantially as described.

t. In a device for stretching garments, the combination of a frame, a movable piece constructed to slide thereon, jaws pivoted to said piece, a spring acting on the jaws with means forclamping the piece in any desired position, substantially as described.

5. In a device forstretching garments, the combination of a frame, a cross-piece sliding thereon and carrying jaws pivoted to itself, the surface of said piece being constructed to coact with the jaws to firmly hold a piece of material engaged thereby, with means for retaining the cross-piece in any desired position upon the frame, substantially as described.

6. The combination in a device for stretching garments, of a frame, cross-bars sliding thereon, one of said bars carrying jaws, the other having means for retaining it in any desired position on the frame and being provided with a recess into which the said jaws are constructed to enter, substantially as described.

i. The combination in adevice for stretching garments of a braced frame provided with cross-bars constructed to slide on the frame, jaws and a spring normally acting to keep said jaws in their closed position on one of said bars, the other bar carrying clamped screws and having in it a slot constructed to receive the jaws, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM D. ASIIWORTII.

Witnesses:

MURRAY 0. Borne, WILLIAM E. BRADLEY. 

